2011-06-24 - A Poke In The Eye: The Russian Base
The Spiral Empire stretches from its headquarters in Teppelin to both above and below, outward in every direction, as far as their forces can fly. Which is a distressing border - because it seems that although the forces of Teppelin are not especially /powerful/...their numbers seem to be without end. In the years since Teppelin's occupation, villages have been systematically emptied and burned to the ground - men and women, forced underground or occasionally just murdered and left in the wastes, a warning against...anything one might wish to be warned about, a silent, grim spectacle. Only rarely has anyone ever pushed into Teppelin's space. The Generals, for all their strangeness, are terrifyingly effective at preventing breaches...and on the rare occasions anyone has gotten to Teppelin's doorstep, they are soon ushered out again by the terrifying power of the Spiral King himself. Normally, offensives by the small bands that have been plaguing Genome's life for some time falter about 100 kilometers away from the site, at the towering structure's absolute defense line. From here, Teppelin can be seen towering in the distance... a looming threat, and a promise of the final goal. Such a broad zone shouldn't be easily defensible, but with the Beastman Army's massive numbers, there always seems to be a swarm awaiting would-be attackers. But today, someone saw a chance - a breach in the line. Lord Genome is moving his forces /somewhere/, in massive enough quantities that not even his prodigious production capacity can keep up. Genome's crimes are manifold, and whatever goal he may have in mind cannot be allowed to reach fruition. So the method is obvious: Cut off the head of the hydra. Word leaked through to everyone with a grudge against Genome - today might be the day. An orbital drop on Teppelin itself would be suicide, but here, blitzing toward the mighty tower's defensive zone, it's possible to bring a ship down rapidly through the atmosphere into the heart of the Spiral King's empire. Of course...getting out again will not be easy if this goes awry. And as the line is approached, it becomes clear it may already have. There is a mound awaiting at the weakest spot in the line, the targetted point. But as ships approach, the ground trembles, and the mound slowly, grindingly, shifts forward. HARDENED TERRESTRIAL GUNMAN MOBILE FORTRESS DAI-GUNDO And in the commander's chair of the great mobile fortress, Guame, the Immovable, smirks broad and clutches a pipe in his teeth. "So, these humans think they'll just pierce right through!? As if we wouldn't expect that!" He peers over at his anteater-man comms officer, yelling, "Get in touch with the Human Extermination Army Central Command Center! We're under attack! We need land and sky-types, on the double!" He turns to the eclectic cross-factional mix of attackers, sneering. "I think we need to swat some flying monkeys." BATTLE AT THE TEPPELIN ABSOLUTE DEFENSE LINE Mission Objectives: *Defeat all enemies. *Survive. This place was a wasteland, there wasn't much left here that passed for traces of humanity. There were razed cities even a razed Russian base. Well the base has been put to use by the beastmen under his command. There were all sort of them theyd make sure to make use the base as a stop off point it just happened DAI-GUNDO had been passing by when the attack from the apes had been begun. Beastmen scramble from the barracks making or their machines most of the ones here were ground types skull heads, bulls, and even a few cat like ones, mostly just the regular forces of an army bent on the oppression or destruction of humanity as a whole. One however a bull based Beastmen seems to be in charge here as he climbs into his machine he barks orders over the comm. "Get ready the damn apes re coming and I will prove that our posing here was a mistake and we will win ourselves a place on the front lines after5 this says now move it!" The legions of the Spiral King are ready, what will you do? Their numbers are many and the attackers are few? While alone a Gunman was an easy target, they were made to operate in packs with the various classes covering each other. This would not be an easy fight. So Suriel loved fighting. However, sometimes he didn't know that there was a fight going to happen. Sometimes Gym, his master, was a jackass. Sometimes, because of this, Suriel finds himself waking up in his cockpit, with a note stapled to his forehead. This time, he grunts, muttering something along the lines of 'not again'. Picking up the note he looked at it... 'Going to fight your way out of an army of beastmen. Watch out for everyone else in your way.' Uh oh.. The sensors come on...he was on a pod? How long to la- CRASH. In the center of the beast man lines, the pod hit the ground. It left a small quake, and a crater. Slowly, however, after it's falling, it started to rise, greenish energy shooting through it and the surrounding round like lighting, before the Qareen breaks free, slowly hovering. Suriel grins, now back in the G-fighter cockpit, as he aims to drive the foot of the Qareen into some poor beast man's face. "These training sessions are always FUN!" he says, to himself. While the Star Hawk would normally fly down from orbit on its own, it cannot use its armor pack in fighter mode and in order to bring all available firepower, it has been equipped with the pack and loaded into a drop pod. Staren waits, watching the altimiter count down. Soon he will *KA-CHUNK* "What was that?" Staren looks around, checks external cameras. What's going on? Somewhere deep in the drop pod's internals, a circuit board has been short-circuited. What by? The camera draws closer. Laying across the circuit board is... An inanimate carbon rod. The drop pod lurches off course. It does not respond to Staren's attempts to establish control. Staren has no choice but to wait for the pod to finish reentry -- He can't bail out and try to rendezvous with the others until then. There are a lot of strange things happening in the frozen white North of the Siberian Wastes. It is also a place quite far from the Earth Cradle, quite far away indeed. It just happened to be luck that Aurum-1 was stationed in a nearby base to study covert operations. A bright blue blur screams through the Northern sky soon after the two drop pods land near the Beastman base in the Tunguska crater. An Ash Saber, curiously painted in dark blacks and browns, approaches the razed Russian base being used by the Beastmen. Within the cockpit, several IFF indicators light up on one of the monitors. Ouka's golden eye stare picks out the two non-Beastman units it highlights, and she smirks slightly at the radio chatter. She changes her radio transmission to an open frequency. "It looks like you could use some help." All at once, numerous funnel-like sword breakers separate from the black Ash Saber's armor and fly across the battlefield. They fire numerous beams across the base attempting to disrupt the Beastman's attempt to sortie a proper defense. Ouka Nagisa transmits, "Don't get careless. Remember your training and don't let yourself get surrounded. Pick off the ones that separate from the larger groups and lure the rest." It's an odd sight, mixed in with the Federation mobile suits, but a GN-XIII painted in A-LAWS red cruises overhead, giving the ground-pounding pilots a slight chill as it passes by. Born aloft by a trailing cloud of brilliant orange particles, distoring comminications momentarily as it passes by, the Jinx speads towards the front lines, aiming to support the flankguard action. Inside the sealed cockpit, the pilot lets out a small sigh, as she attempts to recall the briefing. It was an oppertunistic attack, and just about every available force was converging on Tepplin. That apparently included terrorist forces, with all manner of anti-Federation foces seemingly teaming up to fight. The orders were from the top, much to her superior's disgust: Support the attack, do not press an advantage against rebel forces. This was some idealist's folly, she was told, but it hardly mattered. Charging towards the approaching Gunmen, the red Jinx levels its beam lance, and opens fire, sending a scattering of shots across their lines. The Bullman pulls a cigar out of a compartment under his seat and clamps it between his teeth. He then lights it up and yells over the comm. "Let's rock and roll!" Gunmen open fire against, Suriel's machine mostly solid slugs and some missiles fir the most part these were ground forces, several skull heads are coming towards Staren and more fire comes there's a few lasers too coming their way. Worse there's clearly kill marks marked into the shoulders of these Gunmen, they are likely the unit that took part in slaughtering the Russian base they now use. More and more come out of the wood work. then comes another unit an Ash Saber, one of the beastmen comment. "That's a new one boss!" "I see a promotion to the man who brings me that unit intact I want it's weapon!" Ouka would find her self coming under pretty heavy fire. Still her initial attack explodes a bull-headed one and the commander laughs. "come on you dirty ape is that the best you can do?'" The Gunmen stats to open fire upon all the attackers now in earnest. R A surprise encounter as an A-law machine joins the battle. Several more machines re taken out by surprise going up in fireballs but more beastmen keep on coming, this was going to be a long fight. Suriel Misaki transmits, "O-Ouka?! Ahehehe...alright." Aoba Tsuzaki transmits, "Ouka-san! I'm here too!" Suriel is surrounded. He takes delight in dodging, dancing around his foes like they were standing still. It is almost like space warps in his machine, moving probably too fast for the Stupid Gunmen to keep track of. He lands right behind one, ready to drive his pike into it... Then Ouka calls out to him. He looks up, as the Ashsaver comes down to unleash hell. Well, he'll have to play good tonight, she was the top ace of the School...and dispite all of Suriel's typical rivalry with anything strong, Ouka is one person that actually pings 'Family' to him. Not that it matters too much, but to him he was going to have to try e-.. He winces as the Gunmen shoot. He dives in, letting the Gunmen surive... His pike comes down vicisiouly, remembering that he nearly let him live, thrown by the flying Qareen, as he dives in on the Gunmen around the Ashsaber. Shots are fired, aiming to punch holes in the defense line. "What was that about getting surrounded?" he says, aiming to move back to back with the other unit. The Ash Saber is a pretty peculiar unit on this side, and this one seems slightly more peculiar than most painted all in black as it is. Once the sword breakers are finished delivering their payload, it deactivates its high speed mode in order to allow the funne-like devices to reattach to its armor. Unfortunately this decrease in speed also allows the Beastmen to get a good read on the unit, and to return fire. Ouka grimaces as multiple rounds slam into her unit's armor. She pulls the levers of her machine back and works the peddles, turning down the Tesla Drive and allowing the machine to drop like a stone and avoid some of the hail of bullets coming her way. On the way down two panels slide open on the front of the Ashsaber's chassis, and a multitude of small unguided rockets spill out into the combat zone! They all fly wide, unfortunately, but they do have the side benefit of distracting the Beast Men long enough for her to recover. At that moment Suriel comes screaming out of the sky to deliver his assault. A slight smirk, and right before the Ashsaber hits the ground Ouka re-engages the Tesla drive: The sudden upward thrust produces a mighty downdraft that in turn causes several old evergreen trees to crack and fall sideways from the blast of wind! "Unidentified units in this strategic area. Our primary target are the Beastmen Gunman units, but we will not hesitate to return fire if necessary." As if to clarify, the Ashsaber releases its Halberd Launcher from its holster. The barrel of the weapon separates into two distinct 'prongs' and energy arcs between them while it charges. Inside the cockpit, Ouka takes aim at the Beastmen, hoping strafing them to try and line several up before releasing a massive beam of shifting energy from its weapon! Staren looks confused at his radio. They didn't know about the drop? But then who ordered him here? The camera cuts briefly, suggestively, to Inanimate Carbon Rod. And then back to Staren. He's low enough to break out of the pod. And as he reaches to press the button, everything shakes, and he grabs the arms of his cockpit chair to steady himself. "What the..." The pod breaks open, the Star Hawk holding part of it to use as a shield as cannon fire slams into it. "I can't be that far off if there are ganmen here too..." The giga-launcher bazooka rotates into position, firing missiles at the ganmen. "Hey beastmen! We've got a message for your leader!" The sheer density of fire directed at the airborne Mobile Suit becomes too much, even for the pilot of the Jinx. A slavo of bursting shells explode near the Jinx, too close to escape the blast, scortching and scarring the armor, as it's drawn, inexorably, towards the black... Personal Trooper...? No, it wasn't recognisable. That much was worrying her, but even beyond that, there was something... recognisable about the black Mecha's movements. Her orders were clear. She was to support /any/ forces attacking the Beastmen. Even if she couldn't recognise the mecha she pulled alongside, she recognised some of the tactics... Was it another 'Newtype'? No, couldn't be. She'd feel it. But there was something... Without a word of communication, the Jinx suddently falls into position off to the side of the Ashsaber, and levels its lance rifle. Matching the strafing pattern, the Jinx sweeps its own beam fire back across the enemy, aiming for the onces that happened to dodge... Ouka Nagisa transmits, "Aoba-chan! I didn't know you were part of this operation as well. Hm, you must be outside of my strategic zone. Be careful. Even Beastmen can be dangerous." Aoba Tsuzaki transmits, "I'll be careful!" Suriel Misaki transmits, "Oh it's Aoba too." Suriel Misaki transmits, "(Damn I can't make fun of her with Ouka here.)" The Beastmen seem surprised by Suriel's little action the blast cooks off another pair of Gunmen, but there seems no thinning, their comrades just get meaner too as the fire picks up more and more cannon fire is directed at the high speed units. she doesn't take out any but she does damage several and she manages to force them back a bit. Following up is Staren, his enemy the Inanimate Carbon Rod, has struck again. Perhaps it's in the employ of Genome?! Could Rod have betrayed them all? The Giga Launcher is seen to be what it is a big damn weapon and they scatter only to be picked off by eight, the leader of the Beastmen bellows. "Your tougher than I thought looks like I'll have to Improvise!" That's when he ducks behind a building and comes back holding what used to be a Xammel Cannon steam hisses off it as it powers up to fire, and a shell is launched, then another and another. The thunderous booms of each shot echo over the battle field and the Bullman laughs. "Now this is more like it! Come on show me what you can do!" The other Beastmen are inspired by their boss and focus fire on Ouka and Staren. While Suriel and Eight face the full wrath of the big gun. Aoba Tsuzaki transmits, "What do you mean, oh it's me too?" Suriel Misaki transmits, "Nothing. Nothing at all. Why would I be mean to you?" Ouka Nagisa transmits the sounds of several thunderous booms for a couple of seconds before she begins speaking, "Suriel! Don't stop for idle chatter while under fire!" Suriel Misaki urg... "Time...to...stop...playing...AROUND!" Suriel is blasted to bits by the long range assaults. Suriel's unit is serverely damaged, causing the damage to be imprinted on the unit itself. Groaning nearly screaming in pain, the man's demeanor changes... He almost pushes the button, but he withdraws...but what is seen next is a deep almost crimson aura overtaking the Unit. The Qareen dives forward, aiming to try and grab the Large Leader Gunman by the face and lift him straight up. Suriel then repeatedly slashes at him as if he were a wild animal, aiming to litterally try and tear the other Gunman apart. "COME ON COME ON COME ON COME ON COME ON COME ON COME ON!" he yells, continuing the lift the machine upwards...until he stops, dropping it back towards the ground like a discard piece of trash. Aha, Staren thinks. That one must be the commander. Staren turns to fire on him -- wait, is that a Xamel cannon? OH SHI-- Staren dodges, but his focus on the big gun gets him hammered by the coordinated fire. This in turn gets him hit by the Xamel cannon. A vicious cycle, that leaves the Star Hawk crashed to the dirt as fire rains down upon it, armor plates warping and falling off as they're blasted through. Is this the end for Staren Wiremu?! The Star Hawk stands to its feet, still being pummeled by fire. Suddenly, a piece flies off the back, and then the air behind the bulky red machine is full of blue sparkles and it is moving very fast towards the beastmen. Then the main engines power up and in the blink of an eye the Star Hawk is driving its forearm spikes into one ganmen and then the other -- holding the two in its hands as the hollow spikes inject them with plasa death, he charges towards the commander, intent on slamming the two ganmen into him. "I'm here for your boss! The one at the top! The enemy of humanity, Lord Genome! I wonder, if he has to send an army out to meet us, does that mean he can be killed if we get past you?" Aurum-1 is surprised to find her shot fly past the Beastmen without so much as leaving a scratch on one of their machines. She grits her teeth slightly, and after the Ashsaber's Halberd Launcher folds back into its initial state she reholsters it. It is as she is doing this that she notices the Red GN-XIII pulling up beside her, apparently taking advantage of her earlier shot to pincer several of the Gunmen. A Red Jinx. Ouka has a bit of a sore memory from one earlier, from where it left her impaled to a self-destructing ship as it sank into the ocean. All was according to the plan, but it doesn't change it's a sore spot. She speaks to herself, not bothering to turn the radio on, "Alright then, let's see if you can keep up. BREAK!" Ouka's Ash Saber takes off into the sky suddenly, attempting to evade all the focus fire while unleashing its sword breakers once again. This time each one will descend on the battle field. They fire beams though not particularly well aimed, instead they seem to be intent on grouping several of the gunmen together, limiting their avenues of escape and making them easier targets for the Red Jinx. "Almost..." Toward the end of the attack the individual sword breakers begin to spin rapidly before flashing forward! "There! Take what's coming to you!" Each one becomes much like a drill, attempting to bore straight through their armor and out the other side! An artillery cannon. Well, couldn't blame them for trying... But the Jinx's pilot /would/ blame them for ignoring the nature of their target. The lobbed artillery shells whistle towards the Jinx, only to be shot out of the sky by a hail of point-defense particle cannons, before strafing the commander for good measure. As the Ashsaber leaps away, so too does the GN-XIII, circling around to flank the Beastmen, and swapping out her rifle for the large-bored bazooka that was stowed at its hip. As Ouka sets up the Gunmen, the Jinx pilot opens fire, firing shells at any defensive huddles, forcing them to chose between a particle shell or getting diced by the Sword Breakers. Somewhere inside, the Pilot frowned. It was like drilling with a Psycommu craft, in reverse. Who /was/ this pilot? The human made weapon's ammo is spent, as the counter attack comes, the grunts are spared Suriel's wrath. It's all on the bull head gunman, now as it takes a savage hit but it's pilot rolls with the impact a bit and manages to keep from getting ripped apart but her pauses at the strange red glow. He opens a channel with command and opens a short feed. HE is ready however for Staren as he's known of those damn sparkles before, but the last ones he saw were red. The attack come and he pulls a giant shield made out of parts of EFA mechs out to block the majority of it, he's forced back and damaged. "Basic war you idiot! Even you apes know risking the leader on the front line is folly the Divine Generals and the likes of me are more than enough to deal with you whelps!" Oukas attack keeps hammering into it and the shield is giving way hell she punches through it and it just destroys it the command's gunman loses an arm as well to it. "Your whole damn species is a blight, We know it, hell even the Dinosaurs know it. You isnt fit to have the surface!" The Grunts on the other hand now the grunts also take heavy losses and the numbers are finally starting to thin. "Omega formation boys, take em down! If any of the ladies are lookers Ill bet the General will reward us giving them to him. He could use some more cute little pets!" Then comers nearly enough Dakka, you'd think Trowa was here with several copies of him self...with all the fire in the air. Gunmen! GUNMEN EVERYWHERE! Suriel's shield comes up, blocking most of the assault, but it eventually fauls, causing the Orbital frame to fall back, staggered for a moment, but not very injured. Suriel, however, raises an arm, still covered by that strange aura. Sword breakers appear, suddenly connecting to his arm as it transforms into some strange cannon. Slowly, it points down towards the Beast man general. "Two things. One, the Dinosaur Empire is allied with us. Two, I am finding your tongue UDDERLY annoying!" he says, "And I didn't know Lord Genome was allied with cow people...he must have steak TWICE A WEEK!" he laughs, before firing a massive ball of what might be destribed as a singularity. It falls, trying to suck in the beast man, but will instead simply tear off large chunks of the Gunman, trying to streach him in all sorts of very PAINFUL ways. The ball explodes, sending space around the Gunman in all sorts of strange directions before it resets. "Mooooove out of the way." Suriel Misaki transmits, "Hee hee, udderly." Aoba Tsuzaki makes a sound that can only be described as 'SQUEEEE!' "He's sooo cuuuuuute!" Suriel Misaki transmits, "Ugh...what is cute now?" Staren's charge is blocked by a shield. Oh well, that's still two ganmen down. The hybrid swords unfold and slice through the disabled ganmen. Two down. Staren launches into an attack, punctuating his strikes with words. "A blight? Look at your leader! He's one of us! And if we're so terrible... Why is it that humanity has advanced while beastmen and dinosaurs who had such a headstart, are barely level with us? We've been around what, a million years? And over the past few hundred alone, _we_ have learned to fight disease, to give life where nature would take it! WE have learned to build machines that process complex algorithms at blinding speed! WE have tamed the atom for power and covered the earth with places we can live, and then we moved to space! We have tamed even the inhospitable void! In the world below, we command the power of magic, of channeled will itself! And when it comes to war... _WE_ have built terrible weapons to rival your ganmen and mechasauruses, and they get better every year, with every scientific discovery, with every refinement, while you squat here in the dirt!" "We could have been friends, you know. Ask the Zentraedi! Maybe we still could be friends, if you'll see sense... If not..." "If you would stand in our way... Stand in the way of progress, of a civilization that will span the stars and unlock the secrets of the universe and ourselves, of a civilization that reaches out with hope and determination towards a brighter future while you stare backwards into the past... Then guess what? You're going to become nothing but a footnote in OUR history books!" Staren's unrelenting series of slashes tries to cut the shield to ribbons, and then the hybrid swords are stabbed into the ganmen, trying to find vital points to disable it. "And don't even get me started on your talk of 'pets' and sapient rights violations, you backwards savage!" "GEIM System. Sync!" Pain lances through Ouka's head as the GEIM System, developed by Adler Koch and modified to fit this particular Ash Saber, activates. Barely visible, purple energy begins to trace itself over the armor of the mysterious black Ashsaber and data feeds into the Boosted Child's mind. She can feel its creeping influence as well, crawling into her brain, trying to gain more control over her. But she's strong enough still to resist it. To maintain control. She exhales deeply. As the Sword Breakers return from their assault, the Ashsaber unsheathes its beam saber. It flares to life within the machine's hands as it faces the crowd of beastmen rushing toward it alongside a hail of gunfire. Golden eyes narrow and the Ashsaber begins its descent! A flare of blue energy exhausts from the machine as it flies past gunman after gunman, each one slashed or run through by the beam saber in the Ashsaber's hands. When it finally reaches the it lands deftly in a crouch before holstering its saber, the sky lit up by explosions behind her. Inside the machine, Ouka flips on the external speakers. "No matter where they invade us from. From space, from sea, from deep underground: No matter where they come from we will be there to defend the human race and this Earth Sphere against monstrous beasts like you! We are the legacy of Bian Zoldark! We are the Divine Crusaders!" With that proclamation, the sword breakers disengage from the Ashsaber's armor once more. This time they move much more... smoothly? Within the cockpit of the Ashsaber itself Ouka's eyes are wide and expressionless. Interfaced with the GEIM she is able to, some limited extent, control the sword breakers in their flight. One by one they spin around the GN-XIII and pick individual targets to harrass. Forcing them to group closer together, slowly forming a tightening sphere around the other machine. Toward the end of the attack the Sword Breakers will flash inward, attempting to strike the machines and push them into a solid sphere directly atop of the Red Jinx, lasers lighting up the sky in lines of brilliant laser fire!!! What may happen next is up to the pilot of the GN-XIII. A dozen. A hundred. A thousand Gunmen could be firing at the Jinx, and the ease of its passage between the constant rain of fire would make it look like it was passing harmlessly through empty sky. But as the masses open fire, so too does the Jinx, raining down a scattering of beam fire from its sidearm, picking off one or two smaller models as they pop up. They were thinning out. They had to be. And she knows what she can do to finish them off She'd practised the manouver dozens of times in orbit, with one of her... fellow pilots surrounding her with Funnels, firing all around her. Weaving and dodging in and out of the blasts, she would take down the targets they missed. The sudden spike of pain, and the launch of a dozen... Funnels? from the unknown black robot calls those memories into sharp focus. A Psyco system? No... It's different. Stranger. Is she from Augusta? Without even realising it, her training takes over. Diving into the swirling mass of Sword Breakers, the Jinx lands in the center of the Gunmen. With a simple gesture, two Beam Sabers seemingly appear in her hands, oustretched for a brief moment as the Breakers and Jinx take their positions. What happens next is insane. A whirlwind of bright flashes and deadly lines of energy criss-cross the battlefield, encircling the beastmen in a rapidly-tightening sphere of destruction... And at its' heart, whirling and slashing at any that come close, is a red Mobile Suit, viciously and brutally cutting apart any mecha that comes into reach. An unnerving sight for either side to watch, to be sure... The Grunts are being forced back by the huge amount of attacks being fired at them. He was born for war, he was born for a purpose and he was born to fight. He was also loyal to his creator as much as he was to his men as he backs an order to them. "Fall back I will cover you. Do not waste your lives for the Spiral king Pointlessly GO!" The Bull Head Gunman stands down the remainder of the of the attackers as Suirel picks off several more with the fury. So long as one Hellcow surives the unit will rebuild, that's what matters to it's commander. he stares down Staren as he just moves in and he laughs. "You think you were the first to do it?! Long before you were our MASTER WAS heh heh heh. HE will destroy you but this enough for me to die with my hands around your throat WHELP!" The Gunman's engines are over charged it's not spiral power but to deny Beastmen had wills was folly. he evades Staren's attacks as the two lab girls comes after him he's not sure what they are doing she stands fiorm as the GEIM system is unleashed in all it's horror upon him the Gunmen are savaged but some may very well make it as the carenage fades the commander stands there staring them down. HE snorts and his mssive machine doies the same and he brings up one arm and opens fire with his remaining weapon drops, rolls grabs another dropped weapon and he keeps firing as hell yells. "HELLCOWS FOREVER!" HE keeps shooting and starts to open fire focusing on Staren whose really got him mad and the others may very well meet fire from him as well...this could be bad, very bad. As the pointless slaughter of Gunmen hordes winds down, the Jinx's pilot isn't finished. Hefting its beam lance, the mobile suit takes off, launching itself high into the air, taking it up out of the battlefield. One would almost thing it's retreating... It's gathering run-up space. With a bright flare of orange light high in the sky, the GN-XIII descends. Not just in freefall, but rocketing downwards, lance first, towards the Beastman commander. Brushing air resistance aside with a tight cone of GN particles flaring out from the lance, the Jinx hurtles to earth, intending to drive its massive e-carbon lance straight through the commander's mecha, pinning it to the ground through what she /hopes/ is either the cockpit or engine... One way to be sure... Suriel watches as Ouka and the thing from the Federation lets loose a devistating attack. "NICE SHOT!" he calls out, before she is mercilessly shot by LARGE GUNS. That red aura expands... Suriel was gone, landing right behind the large commander. His hands glowing fircely with that same dark energy he threw around earlier, as he brings the pike down at the back of the Gunmen. Suriel repeatedly slashes, trying to drive his blade into the back of the gunmen. His eyes red as he finally stops... "Watch...AS I DESTROY EVERYTHING!" he turns...not on the commander, but on the retreating Gunmen, his blade channeling a ball of what can best be destribed as a singularity, firing it into the ball with the simple strike. Once it lands, it expands, aiming to drawl in as many of the gunmen as he could, crusing and tearing them to pieces as he laughs... "DARKNESS DEVOURS ALL!" The combination attack finished, the sword breakers fly back toward the Ashsaber albeit on automatic pilot. The GEIM system is dangerous if used too much, and Ouka knows very well what it means to use it too much. Better to let the computer do its work rather than let it use her brain to do the same. Aurum-1 is now ready to turn her attention to the head of the Beastmen forces in this strategic sector. The bullheaded one with the largest gun. Data flows through her mind as he unleashes gunfire in her general direction and the bullets graze and slam against her unit's armor. The Ashsaber rocks backwards, taking out its beam machine gun and attempting to return fire! However the gun itself is eventually hit, along with the machine's hand and both are sent scattering away in pieces. Ouka jerks in pain as the GEIM interface fills her with information on how her unit is damaged, how badly it is damaged, and attempts to blur the line between mind and machine. Ouka's machine topples over completely on its back and is silent ... albeit only momentarily. With its remaining good hand the machine removes the Halberd Launcher from its holster. From its prone position, and locking its arm against the ground for support, the Ashsaber begins to charge the weapon. Power arcs brilliantly over the prongs of the Halberd Launcher and the entire weapon seems to glow. She waits until the crosshairs line up... and then squeezes the trigger! A massive beam of energy carves its way through earth and sky toward the leader's gunmen, shining all the colors of the rainbow! But this is no beautiful thing to admire. Rock is seared away, trees vaporize and the air seems to boil from the sudden increase in temperature. One can only hope that her allies, temporary and permanent, know well enough not to remain in her sights for long. With a burst of blue particles, the Star Hawk is suddenly fast again, dodging the cowman's shots. "Lord Genome has done all those things? Hmm... good for him! He's one of us, remember? But you... Is that really true? Your ambition is to _die_ here, to fall fighting the humans you claim are so pitiful? That's... um... That's really pitiful, actually." Staren blinks, kind of off-put by that thought. Then he recovers. "Is that the best Lord Genome will allow for his followers? To dream of death fighting a foe they believe to be inferior? Well that's not my dream! I won't die here! I'm fighting so that people can have better dreams... dreams of better lives and shining futures, not dreams of dying meaninglessly at the whim of an oppressive tyrant!" He wants to give an offer, to ask for surrender in return for the promise of something better... But for all he knows, the beastman's only future of life is likely to be rotting in jail or worse in the lab. Distinctively-shaped I-field emitters unfold from the shoulder armor parts, like the petals of a flower. The GN drive's output flares up again as they gather energy. "...I'm sorry." Staren says. "You didn't deserve a life like this. At least you are spared the knowledge of how much better things could have been. Very well, I will grant your wish: Feel the glory of dying for the Spiral King!" Tears begin to come to Staren's eyes with these final words, before he pulls the trigger. Two great beams of high energy mega particles are fired on the ganmen, a constant stream of hot minovsky physics death that doesn't stop until the ganmen is half-molten. In the cockpit of the Star Hawk, Staren's head tilts forward, his hair covering his eyes. The Commander makes what he's pretty sure is his last stand, he keeps his cigar clenched in his teeth taking one last deep breath of the toxic but enjoyable substance. One last pleasure before the end right? He checks the hud he's got his master intelligence on the enemy and kept his unit from being totally wiped out. It's not a total failure in his mind. The Hellcows will rise again, and crush the humans. The slaughter of the Gunmen winds down as the huge assault comes in first there is Eight's assaults upon the command mech the new human mecha drives an attack in but he shifts driving it into the arm of his machine ripping it apart and taking part of the shoulder with it, Staren comes next savaving him with the blast forcing the machine back, in a feat of defiance the crippled Gunman actually leaps clear of the assault only taking minor damage but this sets him up for the School kids. He didn't stay in school, hell he's never been to school outside of boot camp after he was awoken. The Hellcows Commander is savaged by Oukas machine as it rises from the dead to only start to burn everything around it the Gundam's coming apart he's just trying to stall them now. "for .... the..... HELIX KING!!!!!" He actually charges Suriel as his machine is caught and is crushed, and then thrown away to a smoking heap along with one or two who lollygagged too long, the battle at the old Russian base is over, what left of it is in human hands. Suriel Misaki transmits, "Sooooo....time to wipe out everyone else?" Ouka Nagisa transmits, "Our orders were to secure this strategic zone. After that we are to provide aid to the other zones, primarily providing evac and retrieval as necessary, and make sure the enemy makes no moves to reclaim this area." He missed, but the cow-man is crushed anyway. The Star Hawk sprays a cloud of steam as coolant vents through the I-field emitters before they fold up again, and the GN drive output slows to a trickle. Staren looks at the crushed machine, and the others around it.. If he were a religious man, he would pray for the beastmens' souls. But in Staren's mind, there is nothing left of them but a memory. The Star Hawk clenches a fist, metal creaking and straining. "He'll pay..." Staren mutters. "You'll pay, Genome. For creating an entire race doomed to ignorance and death... One more reason to give you what you deserve." Maybe, _maybe_ if they defeat Genome, any remaining beastmen will be willing to coexist with humanity. If not... Staren doesn't want to think about an entire species of intelligent life being killed off like that. The Star Hawk starts walking towards its distant allies, then takes off into the air as the engines and GN drive kick in. EPILOGUE. We're not saying this actually happens, but maybe it does. A group of trailers scour the battle site. "Hey look, an orbital drop pod! And most of the pieces are intact!" Later, money and parts change hands. "Oh, and we'll throw this in too." An inanimate carbon rod is handed over. A shady room. Shadier figures sit around a table, and in one seat is an inanimate carbon rod. "You drive a hard bargain, Mr. Rod. But we accept." Another kind of shady place. Inanimate carbon rod is propped up in a seat, with two scantily-clad women hanging their arms around it. "Yeah we'll have that shipment of parts right over... Come on you guys, get it loaded!" Power loaders lift a crate full of machine parts, putting the top on -- briefly visible before the crate closes is a certain rod, atop the pile of parts. Astonage opens a crate on the Argama. "It's about time! We really needed these!" He starts taking inventory, then frowns and curiously picks up an inanimate carbon rod. "Another one of these? Must've gotten in here by mistake... Oh well, we didn't have to pay for it." He sets it down next to the parts, where the camera zooms in on it, dramatically, before fading to black. The mysterious black Ashsaber lays on the ground for a bit longer after firing its Halberd Launcher, the weapon releasing faint wisps of vapor from along its twin barrels. In time they snap closed once more and it is put away. With its hand now free the unit will be able to use it to help push itself back up. Within the cockpit, Ouka is similarly worse for wear. The shock of suddenly tumbling backward slammed her against her own controls, and she can feel blood trickle down her left arm from a shallow cut. None of this seems painful to her though, not until she shuts down the GEIM System interface and the sharp agony at within her mind is replaced with a dull, lasting ache. Much like a tooth ache actually and just as annoying. Once her machine returns to its feet, Ouka performs a quick sweep of the local area. In particular at the remains of the hand and the beam machine gun seems to interest her. A quick survey reveals that the hand is little more than broken bits of scrap, and the beam machine gun fares little better. Next she looks at the EFA and Katharon unit in the area and her eyes narrow slightly. Under normal circumstances they would be tearing each other apart ... but these aren't normal circumstances. Ouka flips on the local open channel once more, her voice soft, calm and polite, "Thank you for your aid. We will keep watch over this area until we are relieved." After her declaration, Ouka spares a glance at the Red Jinx and its pilot. The piloting style and attacks are familiar ... the one from the boat? Possibly. But there seems to be more just tugging at the corners of her mind. A frown crosses her features. Just as well, she supposes. Her musing finished, Aurum-1 looks off toward Teppelin and narrows her eyes. Hopefully her friends are faring as well as she did, or better. Suriel looks at the remaining units. "You are so lucky she is here. I'd kill you both. Well, Staren. I'd kill him. I think I am cool with you." he motions towards Eight. "Whatever. Later, losers." He says, and turns to follow the Older Sister. Category:Logs